Lady Ren stares at me, her eyes wide. Like I’m some kind of animal in a cage.

Guess killing fifty Demons in one night isn’t normal, even for a noble. Or maybe she’s just that young.

“Look closely, Ren. This man is insane,” Lady Kimiyo says. “And I mean that as the highest compliment. This line of work chews up the sane ones. The crazy bastards? They live longest. And the longer they live, the more Demons they get to drag screaming back to Hell.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment,” I say.

“It’s the highest praise I have. Ikaku Akamuro, you’re a monster of an Exorcist.

Listen, Ren. You need to grasp what he did. Fifty Demons. Four of them were Category Twos. The rest were all over the place. Threes, Fours, Fives… and the Category Six, Homura.”

“…Grandma. Did Mr. Akamuro do all that by himself?”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

“...He’s scary!” Lady Ren won’t meet my eyes.

So much for the bond we forged sorting through the Akai treasury. Now I’m just a psycho killer to her.

“Hah! A commoner Exorcist who terrifies Mages. I love it. Well done, Ikaku Akamuro. You did magnificently. That night, you got justice for every soul they took. The glory is yours. A hell of a hunt.”

“Couldn’t have done it alone.”

Not false modesty. It’s the truth. I had help.

The ones who gave me weapons that could kill a Demon. The one who got me the intel. The one who pulled my ass out of the fire. The one who gave me a ride.

And above all, the Akai Clan. They helped me build this body, forge these skills.

If even one of them was missing, I’d have failed.

“You don’t look pleased. Nothing to be ashamed of. People helped because of who you are. Your words, your actions… they made this happen. That’s a kind of power in itself, isn’t it?”

“True power… You might be right, Lady Kimiyo.”

“Right, right. Speaking of power…” Struck by a sudden thought, Lady Kimiyo claps her hands. “I meant to ask about your Code. I saw it when we had your clothes off. You’re carrying an advanced one.”

I roll up my sleeve. Gnostic symbols and Latin text are etched into both my forearms.

When I cross my wrists, they form a single inscription: the power Lord Jinichiro Akai gave me in his final moments.

“—and that’s what happened. He gave it to me when he made me a Coral Terminator.”

“Non est occultum quod non revelabitur. ‘What is hidden will surely be revealed.’ A Spell Rank S—an eternal Code, no less. It’s a miracle it hasn’t broken your mind.”

“Is it bad for my health?”

“You don’t carve a Spell Rank S Code into a mortal. Not unless you want to turn them into a drooling vegetable. For that, I suppose it works just fine.”

Eh? Lord Jinichiro…?

“He must have gambled on that willpower of yours… Hmph. Ikaku Akamuro, he put a hell of a lot of trust in you, didn’t he? And you saw it through. Proves Jinichiro knew how to pick his men.”

So that’s what it was. Trust.

He wouldn’t have just scrambled my brain on the spot. Not then.

Knowing that… this Code on my arms feels different. Heavier. Something to be proud of.

“So, who carved the one on your chest?”

“Huh? My chest?”

I unbutton my shirt. And there it is, etched into the skin on my outer left pec. 

Another Gnostic symbol. More Latin text.

A Code I have no memory of ever receiving.

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